HOW TO MAKE INCENSE

By John Tindsley

This article is designed to show you how to make incense for use in ritual. This means loose incense. I am not going to talk about making stick or cone incense as this is awkward and the need for a large quantity of wood base in the product prevents the manufacture of most of the more interesting blends.

Why use incense?

1. Different scents may be used to affect the mood of participants in a ritual
2. Swirling clouds of smoke have a consciousness altering effect upon a ritualist. For example in evocations to visible appearance.
3. You may wish to use incense as an offering to Gods or Spirits.
4. The incense may act as sigil to encode your desire.
5. You may be charging the scent to use the same incense later as a magickal link.

The above list is by no means exhaustive.

What do I put in my incense?

The major components included in loose incense can be broken into five categories as follows:

1. Resins and Gums (Gums are water soluble)
2. Woods and Hard plant materials
3. Soft plant materials (e.g. Leaves)
4. Resinoids
5. Essential Oils<

The balance of these components in incenses can vary, however the majority of loose incense is about 70% resins and gums and 30% plant material, with oils and resinoids added to moisten the mixture.

Liquid components act as fluxes to let the scents of the solids blend over time. Liquids evaporate first when burnt. The degree to which solids are ground determines the extent to which each scent enters the flux. Scents may change in the flux due to only some of the odiferous compounds in a solid being soluble in the flux.

Reasons for using particular components (prioritised).

1. Scent Attribution
2. Talismanic Attribution
3. Other Attribution (e.g. Colour)

The preliminary list of components that you may wish to use in a particular incense can be derived from a table of correspondences. These give useful hints on what resins and plants may be appropriate. Remember though that some of the published tables are based on the medicinal and folkloric attributions of the herbs and resins, and not on their scent value.

It is to be noted that there are various levels at which correspondences can operate. It is worth understanding these as they can affect the way in which your incense works. I have listed what I consider to be the three primary levels on which I think correspondences work below:

1. Physiological. e.g. Frankincense when burnt acts to deepen breathing.
2. Cultural. e.g. Musk and Rose are associated in our culture with sex.
3. Personal. e.g. Any scent associated with a traumatic experience.

Some general rules to follow with regards to incense.

1. Keep a recipe book, and note in it the quantities of ingredients as you add them to an incense.
2. Be aware that the more finely you grind components in an incense, the faster they will burn.
3. Note that powdered resins may swamp and extinguish charcoal if you use too much of them.
4. Don’t use a ritual incense for general scenting around the house. Each time you use a particular incense, that scent builds up associations for you. If you want a scent to perfume your room, design one specifically for that purpose.

Making an Incense for a particular purpose.

1. Sort out, using your accumulated notes, what components are most likely to be useful for the kind of incense you wish to make.
2. Try to remember how you felt when experiencing a sensation associated with the purpose for which you want the incense. e.g. For a love incense, try to remember how you felt when deliriously in love.
3. Smell each component and compare how it makes you feel to your memory. If it fits, put it to one side, otherwise discard it.
4. Work out a balance of the selected components, bearing in mind, general resin/plant balance, the strength of the individual scents, and which components most correspond to the required sensation.
5. Adjust the balance to include any talismanic components, remember that they may have their own scent.
6. Blend up the incense, test some of it comparing it to your memory, if needed go back to step 4) and adjust the mixture.
7. About one month later test the incense again in the same way, the scent may have changed, if needed make a new batch while adjusting the mixture.

© John Tindsley; used with permission. HTML coding by Frater T.S. for Sunwheel Oasis. A very small amount of editing has been done; this article was originally written as a handout for a workshop.

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